


In which Hollow's Cloak goes through a Lot of Problems

by ThatOneNightmare



Category: Hollow Knight (Video Games)
Genre: Additional Warnings In Author's Note, Fluff and Angst, Heavy Angst, please read them
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-10
Updated: 2020-06-10
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:47:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24653356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatOneNightmare/pseuds/ThatOneNightmare
Summary: So about a week ago (i think? What is time at this point anyways) I posted a lil picture that involved my parts of my headcanons of how vessel cloaks worked. In the tags, I asked people to question me on my Hollow's cloak was so short in comparison to what it should've been.And ask they did!!!Sometime and a google doc later, here we are! Over 1000 words of me angsting about Hollow's cloak (+300 or so words of semi fluff about Hollow's cloak)(Couldnt put this in the notes because mobile ao3 isnt super great at that but: Please read the warnings in the author's note before each chapter!)
Relationships: Hornet & The Knight (Hollow Knight), The Hollow Knight | Pure Vessel & Hornet, The Hollow Knight | Pure Vessel & Hornet & The Knight, The Hollow Knight | Pure Vessel & The Knight
Comments: 4
Kudos: 75





	1. The White Palace

**Author's Note:**

> This is how it all starts going downhill
> 
> Tw for unintentional repeated abuse

The white palace is really where their cloak starts getting messed up. Once thk grew older and taller, their cloak started growing longer and longer. The Pale King, even if he had ignored the fact that thk was a Real Living Being, didn’t want them looking scruffy. So Mr. Everything’s-Gotta-Be-Immaculate-Because-That’s-What-Kings-Are-Like-Right had thk get routine trims to their. Thing is, he didn’t know that their cloak actually had any nerve endings (or whatever the void equivalent is. Do bugs even have nerves???), and since they were ‘pure vessel’ mode, thk couldn’t tell them when it became uncomfortable, or when it hurt. 

When they were about Lost Kin size, trims weren’t as bad, only around knee length, and just edging into the yellow ‘a little painful, but not much’ zone. Basically enough to keep them from tripping over it and breaking something. When thk grew to full size is when it became painful. Fitting both their armor, and the cloak that came with it, caused for their cloak to be trimmed much shorter in order to any hassle that came with it being too long. So their cloak was clipped to mid torso, definitely into the red ‘too far! ouch!!!’ zone. 

And these repeated every single week, until they were chained into the black egg.

Thk eventually lost a lot of sensitivity in their cloak, which while isn’t the best thing to have happen, was much better than the sharp pain, then day or two of soreness afterwards that having their cloak trimmed back that far brought. These trimmings, also like stunting a person’s height, ended up stunting how far their cloak would naturally end up growing in the end.

Not only that, but compared to the naturally dark cloaks vessel’s usually had, thk’s grew paler. This was because the white palace + proximity to the pale king meant a lot of soul, and that cause the cloak they had grown while there to become much lighter. This didn’t actually hurt them, I just thought it would be cool to note.


	2. The Temple of the Black Egg

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Its RADIANCE time. Also things get Worse, now
> 
> Oh fun fact this part in the google doc is named "themple"
> 
> Also thank you Skye for this joke:  
> Hollow in the themple what trauma will they gain"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tws for semi-detailed descriptions of rot, and implied "the radiance alone is a good warning, right?"

Now, because of being locked in the temple, you’d think that it would help negate problems that the routine cloak trims in the white palace caused. And you’d be right! At first, without the constant trimming they faced in the white palace, thk’s cloak grew pretty long! They also slowly regained feeling in it too. However, that could only help for so long. As they grew more and more infected, things started going bad. I mean, we all know what happened to thk’s arm, yes? Same thing with the cloak, but worse. 

Compared to the main body, a vessel’s cloak is fairly delicate (even though thinking about the things ghost goes through doesn’t bring to mind the word ‘delicate’, haha), so it was the first thing to go. Though their entire cloak was infected, the lower parts were the first things to rot away. However, eventually the rot crept higher, and since thk had regained most of the sensitivity in it that they lost, it hurt a lot. 

Especially since this wasn’t the quick sharp pain, then comparatively short soreness of the palace. It was a creeping burning feeling, not overshadowing the pain they felt in their body, but adding to it instead. It only got worse as time went on, constant and unending Plus, since things don’t rot evenly, with some parts falling away faster than others, their cloak became shorter, and very uneven.

Their cloak also became darker and dingier, gaining that greenish/brownish color seen in battle. Part of this is because green is the natural tint of their cloak, and the other is because dirt and infection. Theres a lotta dirt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> they gain Many trauma. So many.


	3. The Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Its not getting any worse but we're still in the oof ouch their cloak zone so

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tws for semi-detailed descriptions of rot, brief mentions of heavy body injuries, semi detailed descriptions of materials stuck in wounds and getting them out, unintentional (NOT repeated) abuse

Once the radiance was defeated, either shadelord way or the other way that i don’t remember that left them alive, thk was in - excuse my language here - absolutely shit shape. Gaping infection (and infected) wounds, nail stabs and slices, that giant crack in their mask, yknow, the works. Plus, at this point, their infected, still rotting cloak had more than likely gotten stuck in more than a couple of wounds. Thats bad. Very very bad. Having material stuck in a wound is not good, having dirty material stuck in a wound is worse, and having actively rotting material stuck in a also probably actively rotting/bleeding wound is horrible! Just the worst!!

So, now we bring in Hornet. And or ghost. Fuck it, Ghost is here too bc i love them very much. And I realize I also need them here to help. In, semi-canon? Headcanon?? Whatever this entire post is???

Thk at this point is probably most likely in a hot spring, and Hornet’s gotta bandage them up. Unfortunately, as I went on for about half a paragraph earlier, thk has a lot of actively rotting cloak in their wounds and thats gotta go! And also (hornet I’m sorry abt this comparison but-) like the pale king (and pretty much any other bug/being except for maybe grimm (bc of that whole “Is it cloak? Is it wings? Who tf knows!!!” Thing he’s got going on)) Hornet doesn’t know that vessel cloaks are part of them and have the void-equivalent of nerves! So the first action she goes to take is cutting the cloak away from their wounds.

Now previously, I’ve shown and talked about how thk’s cloak length is already in the red ‘too far! ouch!!!’ category right? And Hornet’s about to cut that even shorter, about upper chest/neck length. So. Thats Bad. Really Bad and Painful. And thk is. Still in ‘pure vessel’ mode so they’re not going to do anything about it.

Ghost was likely sent out for supplies, and to distract them a bit from fretting so much, so they aren't there for the first cut. They do, however, arrive in time for the second cuts, and end up dropping whatever they’re carrying to dash to Hornet. Hornet, very confused worried and agitated, asks Ghost what’s up, why are they trying to stop her from doing this. As they are mute, it takes a couple of minutes of charades, and mild demonstration (in which Ghost uses their nail to carefully slice their palm, then gesture back and forth between the cut and their cloak) for Hornet to realize cutting thk’s cloak is Not Good.

Unfortunately, the cloak is still in their wounds, and while some of it slides without much trouble, other parts are Stuck. So, Hornet has to (carefully, carefully-) dig those out. And then move them out of the way. All of which is a very not fun and painful process. 

Now, about a week later after thk gets outta the black egg and the initial rush to take care of their wounds, Hornet ends up taking a closer glance at their cloak, and realizes that its rotting. Its rotting pretty badly! No Body Likes This, but! They have to make sure that the rot doesn’t spread, or it could do a lot more damage. So now she has to trim their cloak, around to about mid chest for the shorter parts, and lower chest for the longer parts. Which is all in the red ‘too far! ouch!!!’ zone. Its very painful.

Washing the dirt and other stuff off their cloak reveals it to be a bit lighter than originally thought, but still pretty green and brown. There’s still a bit of residual infection in their cloak, but that gets flushed out eventually.


	4. The Recovery*

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *kinda  
> Wow! The last part! This one is here to show that yeah, they get better :]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tws for implied everything in the earlier pieces, but nothing heinous in the chapter itself. I think. Tell me if I'm wrong

Ok! Ok ok I swear this!! Is much nicer!!! than the other 3 parts I swear it!!!!

SO after thk has mostly recovered from their wounds (not counting the chronic pains that definitely come with being a angry sun goddess’ punching bag for the past few unknown amount of centuries), and also has mostly left the ‘pure vessel’ mindset (I say mostly because having that forced on you from basically birth, then (more likely than not) using said mindset as a way to cope with active torture more than likely leaves a Impression), their cloak was still messed up, but it was better.

At first, even if it wasn’t rotting anymore, it didn’t really seem like their cloak would grow back. In the first couple of weeks after all the infection was sorta ‘flushed’ out of it, it didn’t grow any at all, was brittle, and felt pretty dry to the touch (Ghost’s cloak is soft yet flexible, think like the leaves on a big plant, but more flexible than that). Ghost was worried bc they knew this wasn’t normal, and Hornet was worried bc Ghost was worried, and she had no idea how to help with this. 

Thankfully, once thk’s wounds had mostly finished healing, their cloak began regrowing. It came in patchily and soft, with the older parts breaking off as the new parts came in. It’s also darker than it was, but spotty in color, with darker and lighter patches scattered around. So now that they’re not in the white palace any more, their cloak is growing back into its natural darker colors. The patchiness is mostly because they were sick, and in and out of hot springs for most of their initial recovery. Ghost’s cloak is darker bc they a. never were around so much soul for such a long period of time and b. typically used soul they collected for focusing and spells, thus never really holding onto it like thk did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeah!!! Thats it! Thats the end of this!
> 
> [ here's the post that started this thing ](https://trobbio-silksong.tumblr.com/post/619956261048434688/natural-vessel-cloaks-headcanons-when-u)
> 
> Tba is a link to a post that will contain Art B]


End file.
